Right, will somebody please tell me why the toaster is trying to eat the sofa? [Nokia Home Control Centre – a disaster in waiting]

Every so often I read about a planned technology or idea and think, “wow, that really is monumentally stupid”, and this month Nokia’s new toy in development takes the prize.

Has Nokia forgot what happened when wireless access points started appearing in people’s homes? Naturally, other people started driving around and creating maps of open access points they could use. Then along came WEP, quickly followed by its subsequent and decisive departure. Personally, I still think wireless is a daft idea. Anyway, back to the point; while all the wirless abuse was/is usually pretty benign, generally limited to getting internet access for free, can you imagine what’s going to happen when the first vulnerabilities start appearing in these “Home Control Centres”? Again a totally redundant and essentially useless technology is going to wreack havock… let the games begin.

Personally, I think programming your neighbour’s livingroom lights and stereo to re-inact the “Day-O” scene from the film “Beetlejuice” could have good entertainment value. I however also think there will be a select few out there that will have other more nefarious ideas. Maybe wirelessly connecting your oven up to your new “Home Control Centre” wasn’t such a good idea afterall….